Optimizing power consumption in modern mobile electronic communication devices (e.g., cell phones or personal digital assistants) has been a long-standing design consideration in the mobile electronics industry. Reduction in power consumption over time proves particularly important in mobile electronic communication devices that are battery-powered and intended for use over long durations between recharge cycles. To achieve this reduction in power consumption, many modern mobile devices implement a power management scheme that utilizes multiple operating power states (e.g., ON, STANDBY, IDLE, SLEEP). The state in which the mobile device operates can depend on a number of factors, including the number of active applications running on the device and mobile network connectivity. Each operating state typically has a corresponding operating power consumption level. Accordingly, by adjusting the state in which the mobile device operates, overall device power consumption may be optimized.
Many previous mobile electronic communication device operating systems require that the device remain in a high power consumption active state (e.g., ON), except in rare instances when there are no active high-level applications running on the device and mobile network connectivity has been disabled. This scheme proves extremely ineffective, however, in efficiently managing device power consumption. This design issue has been partially addressed by modern devices that implement a multiple processor design architecture. For example, many devices utilize a dual processor architecture having a high-level processor (e.g., an applications processor) capable of running high-level applications and active system tasks, and a base-band processor (e.g., a communications processor) capable of running communication subsystem tasks. In such an architecture, the high-level processor traditionally has higher power consumption requirements than the base-band processor. Lower total power consumption by the device can thus be achieved by reserving the high-level processor for running only necessary applications and system tasks.
In the previously described dual processor architecture, overall device power consumption can be drastically reduced by allowing the high-level processor to enter a dormant low power state during a long duration idle period when there are no high-level applications and regular low-level system tasks active. Current implementations, however, only allow the high-level processor to enter a dormant low power state periodically, and require that the high-level processor return to an active state to run regular low-level system tasks such as updating network signal strength or system-time. As a result, the potential benefits of a multiple processor architecture for reducing power consumption in a mobile electronic communication device are not fully achieved. A system for managing power consumption in a device having a plurality of processors, wherein said processors have asymmetric power consumption requirements, comprises means for transferring control of certain tasks from a first processor with first power consumption requirements to a proxy software module operating on a second processor with second power consumption requirements, wherein said first power consumption requirements are greater than said second power consumption requirements; and means for switching the first processor to a dormant power state.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a power management scheme that allows a high-level processor with high power consumption requirements in a multiple processor mobile electronic communication device to enter into a dormant low power state without the need to periodically enter an active state to control regular low-level system tasks.